Episode 171 – “Tomb of the Cybermen” – Part 02

So the not-a-twink has been shot, and we’ve had our first glimpse of a Cyberman, albeit one that’s basically a targeting dummy.

The Doctor tries to re-create the events leading up to the death of Jamie’s new friend. After that, they decamp, and Victoria finds “a fossil”; the Cybermat. The Doctor is sensibly concerned, but not enough so to stop her from putting it into her purse.

With the deaths of two people, the guy running the expedition has decided it’s time to go back. This is…sensible. You just know that it’s not a choice that’s going to last long. Sure enough, we find out that the fuel pumps for the rockets have been destroyed. Well, then. Not even a single scene.

Kleig continues to be obsessed with the idea of getting into the tomb itself. He spends some time trying to work out a logical way to get in. Eventually he does so, with some help from the Doctor.

We head into the tomb itself. It’s a scene that’s all potential and no payoff, at least not yet. Meantime, upstairs, Kaftan drugs Victoria, for reasons, and then locks the door behind our heroes.

And then we get one of the creepier, better-staged scenes in the entirety of early Doctor Who as the Cybermen begin to emerge from the tomb. One of the expedition tries to stop the process, only have to Kleig kill him. So the Cybermen are on the way.

We cut back to the surface, where Victoria is waking up. As she stands, I notice, within the holes along the base of the lid, that there’s a stagehand or something inside. I never saw that before!

Now the Cybermen begin to come out in earnest, and it’s a very well-done scene. Creepy and interesting, with a rather cool score.

Upstairs, Kaftan is holding Victoria at bay when she’s attacked by the Cybermat. It…knocks her out somehow. I guess? Victoria shoots it and goes running off for help.

Then we cut back downstairs and, oh, hey, the Cyber-leader has put in appearance. He’s quite interesting to look at, and obviously someone spent a lot of time and effort designing the character.